


Very Near Death

by Amemait



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio), Torchwood
Genre: GFY, I wish it were; it depresses me too much, I'm may never finish this one, NOT a Torchwood Fixit Fic, Only Death of the Endless because I understand the BFA Death was meant to be of the Endless, She doesn't sound like Death of the Endless; way too malicious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-17
Updated: 2013-07-17
Packaged: 2017-12-20 10:59:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/886464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amemait/pseuds/Amemait
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Death and the Doctor have a little chat.</p><p>Spoilers for BFA: Master. Only tangentially Torchwood, as the fic from which this is one of the few postable parts is almost entirely Torchwood.</p><p>The other title under consideration for this bit was 'the could-have-been queen', which I decided against because while I was typing it just now I had a plot bunny, so eek.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Very Near Death

"The last time I saw you, you were a woman," the Doctor said, giving Death a sharp look.

  
"And I liked games and I liked toying with you and I seemed to delight in knowing how you'd react and causing you pain because of it," Death responded listlessly, leaning against the wall. "But then, your Seventh Self did have a fondness for understanding the world around him and knowing how it would react. Death is but a mirror of life, and you do try so hard to be of Life, ignore the shadow of me you cast behind."

"I never set out to cause pain using what I knew."

"But you could have as your Seventh. Far more easily than any other of your selves, even your Ninth. And he was fire and brimstone and so very nearly mine, Doctor. But that is in the past now."

"Cruel," the Doctor mumbled, but he couldn't summon up heat for the word.

"It is in my nature to take away the ones that others love, just as it is within yours to sense the movements of time. I could no more cease to be 'cruel' than you could cease to be yourself, even under the guise of a human or through the changes of a regeneration." Death sniffed, looking up to the sky. "He told the woman, made the inspector confess his crimes to her and the members of the simple little police service that were later arranged to be present, and the penalty for all those deaths he'd committed was death itself; even a knifepoint confession was enough for this. That young girl's parents were out for blood. So you see, he did kill the man, and he did become mine once more."

"And Jacqueline lived?"

"She lived. And John killed himself before her, and she died soon thereafter - the doctors ruled a broken heart, but to truly break a heart must be stabbed through, and that was precisely what she did. So you see, Doctor, they all died, and they all became mine, one way or another."

"The Master died? But how-"

"John Smith died. Doctor John Smith, the healer of thousands. The Master was already free to be mine, for unlike you he keeps his bargains."

"Free to be yours and you to be his, I suppose."

"Jealousy does not become you Doctor." A sly look from almost fully-human eyes. "You were right, you know. Love could easily have saved him, but not the love of that foolish woman. Another missed opportunity, I suppose."

The Doctor looked at the ground as he walked away.


End file.
